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Editor’s Note: In this appeal to Congress, more than 35 artists, activists, scholars and others call for funding for Ukraine. On territory that Russia occupies, it tortures Ukrainian citizens, kidnaps Ukrainian children and murders Ukrainian leaders. By fighting Russia alone, they protect Europe. By fighting a conventional war against a nuclear power, they are making nuclear proliferation and nuclear war less likely. Together we call upon Congress to do the right thing – right now.

Persons: Read, Stringer, Abrams, José Andrés, Gabrielle Carteris, Mona Charen, Misha Collins, Rosario Dawson, Felicia Day, Doug Fears, Jonathan Safran Foer, Francis Fukuyama, Mark Hamill, Gale Anne Hurd, Dara Khosrowshahi, William Kristol, Eric Edelman, Scott Kelly, Daniel Lubetzky, Michael McFaul, Kate McKinnon, Alyssa Milano, Viggo Mortensen, Patton Oswalt, Phillips O’Brien, Brad Paisley, Sean Penn, Serhii Plokhii, Ivanna Sakhno, Eric Schmidt, Liev Schreiber, Timothy Snyder, Terrell Jermaine Starr, Barbra Streisand, Hilary Swank, Peter Wehner, Katheryn Winnick Organizations: Ukraine, CNN, Getty Locations: Russia, Russian, Crimean Tatars, Ukrainian, Kharkiv, Mariupol, Aleppo, Grozny, Europe, Donetsk, Ukraine, AFP, China, Beijing, Asia, East, Africa, United States

☆ Putin is coasting towards another term in power. Here’s what to know about Russia’s presidential election
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Rob Picheta | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

CNN —Russia is holding a presidential election that is all but certain to extend Vladimir Putin’s rule throughout this decade and into the 2030s. But this is not a normal election; the poll is essentially a constitutional box-ticking exercise that carries no prospect of removing Putin from power. But that is not to say Russians expect the election to change the direction of the country. Russia’s elections are neither free nor fair, and serve essentially as a formality to extend Putin’s term in power, according to independent bodies and observers both in and outside the country. In order to vote against Putin, you just need to vote for any other candidate,” he said on February 8.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, Putin, Alexey Navalny, Natalia Kolesnikova, Joseph Stalin, Putin’s, Dmitry Medvedev, euphemistically, —, Abbas Gallyamov, Gallyamov, ”, Callum Fraser, Nikolay Kharitonov, Leonid Slutsky, Vladislav Davankov, Davankov, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Boris Nadezhdin, Yekaterina Duntsova, Duntsova, Leonid Volkov, Volkov, Stringer, Alexey Navalny –, –, Yulia Navalnaya, “, “ Putin, Don’t, Navalnaya Organizations: CNN, Russian, Duma, Getty, Levada, Central, Commission, Royal United Services Institute, Communist Party, Slutsky, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Kremlin, CEC, Freedom, Putin, European Union, Foreign Affairs Locations: Russia, Ukraine, AFP, Soviet, Lithuanian, Vilnius, Chechen, Grozny, Moscow, Russian

☆ Ukrainian POWs are being bought and sold on a Russian black market, report says
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russian fighters are operating a black market for Ukrainian prisoners of war, The Times of London reported. AdvertisementA black market in Ukrainian prisoners of war is being operated by Russian fighters, according to The Times of London. The Chechens were buying the POWs from other Russian forces in order to use them in prisoner exchanges for their own troops, he said. Soon, Levytskiy was taken to Grozny, where he recuperated and, in June 2023, was part of a group exchange of Ukrainian prisoners for Chechen ones, the paper reported. An estimated 4,000 Ukrainian combatants have been taken prisoner by Russian forces, The Guardian reported.

Persons: —, Petro Yatsenko, Ramzan Kadyrov, Vyacheslav Levytskiy, Levytskiy Organizations: Service, Russian, The Times, Donetsk People's, Guardian Locations: London, Russia, Grozny, Chechen, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Donetsk, Avdiivka, Donetsk People's Republic, Geneva, Russian

☆ Why Domicide Should Be a Crime Against Humanity - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Balakrishnan Rajagopal | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +9 min

Opinion Domicide: The Mass Destruction of Homes Should Be a Crime Against HumanityThe widespread or systematic destruction of homes has long been a feature of modern warfare. We all understand that killing can be a murder, a war crime, a crime against humanity or an act of genocide, depending on the gravity and intention of the act. Indeed, what has happened to homes and lives in Gaza is a stand-alone crime: domicide. There is precedent for updating what we legally define as international crimes. Accountability for domicide in Gaza cannot stop with potential criminal prosecutions or declaratory judgments by courts someday in the future.

Persons: Yaqeen Baker, It’s, I’ve, Israel, Enshrining Organizations: West Bank, Israel, United, International Court of Justice, General Assembly, Marshall Locations: Jabalia, Gaza, Aleppo, Grozny, Myanmar, Canada, Syria, United Nations, Dresden, Rotterdam, Mariupol, Israel, Hiroshima, Geneva, Rome, domicide, United States

☆ Chechen leader says he is ready to send another 3,000 fighters to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov addresses service members while making a statement, dedicated to a military conflict in Ukraine, in Grozny, Russia February 25, 2022. REUTERS/Chingis Kondarov/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNov 28 (Reuters) - Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on Monday that another 3,000 of his fighters were ready to go to fight in Ukraine as part of new units of the Russian defence ministry and the Russian National Guard forces. "They (the fighters) have the best equipment and modern weapons," Kadyrov said on the Telegram messaging app. Kadyrov's claims could not be independently verified and estimates of the Chechen fighters deployed to Ukraine vary. There have been also been several Chechen armed formations fighting on the side of Ukraine in the war that began with Russia's full-scale aggression in Ukraine 21 months ago.

Persons: Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov, Chingis, Ramzan Kadyrov, Kadyrov, Vladimir Putin's, Kadyrov's, Russia's, Wagner, Lidia Kelly, Sandra Maler Organizations: REUTERS, Russian National Guard, Chechen, Thomson Locations: Chechen Republic, Ukraine, Grozny, Russia, Chechnya, Melbourne

☆ In the Israel-Gaza War, We Must Not Kill Some Children to Protect Others - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-21 | by ( Nicholas Kristof | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

Too bad about those Russian children, but they should have chosen somewhere else to be born. A prolonged ground invasion seems to me a particularly risky course, likely to kill large numbers of Israeli soldiers, hostages and especially Gazan civilians. The best answer to this test is to try even in the face of provocation to cling to our values. If your ethics see some children as invaluable and others as disposable, that’s not moral clarity but moral myopia. We must not kill Gazan children in order to protect Israeli children.

Persons: I’ve, Biden, it’s, Benjamin Netanyahu, Iyad Abu Karsh, ”, Putin, Giora Eiland, Israel, Bravo Organizations: Hamas, Gaza Ministry of Health, Gazans, Times, Israeli National Security Council Locations: Gaza, Tel Aviv, United States, Israel, America, Ukraine, Russian, Aleppo, Russia, Grozny, American

☆ Putin ally suggests postponing March presidential election, or excluding rivals
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Oct 7 (Reuters) - Ramzan Kadyrov, head of Russia's Chechnya region and close ally of President Vladimir Putin, proposed on Saturday that a presidential election due next March should either be postponed due to the war in Ukraine or limited to one candidate - Putin. However, Russia's failures in the war, which Moscow calls a "special military operation", have made events less predictable. "I propose now, while the 'special military operation' is under way, to unanimously decide that we will have one candidate in the elections - Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin," Kadyrov was quoted as saying. He has also ruptured relations with the West, which has imposed sweeping economic sanctions, armed Ukraine at huge cost, and expanded and reinforced the U.S.-led NATO alliance. Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Kevin Liffey; Editing by Ros RussellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Ramzan Kadyrov, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Kadyrov, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, Kevin Liffey, Ros Russell Organizations: Kremlin, NATO, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Chechnya, Ukraine, Russia, Moscow, Chechen, Grozny, U.S

According to a decree signed by Putin on Sunday, the Russian state had taken control of Danone's Russian subsidiary along with beer company Carlsberg's (CARLb.CO) stake in a brewer. Yakub Zakriev, 32, a deputy prime minister of Chechnya and the republic's agriculture minister, took the post of general director of Danone Russia on Tuesday, Interfax's SPARK database of company disclosure documents in Russia showed. "Choosing him as general director of Danone Russia shows that representatives of the team of Chechen President and Hero of Russia Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov are talented and successful managers," Dudayev said on his Telegram messaging app. Kadyrov, a close ally of Putin, has referred on social media to Zakriev as his "dear nephew". Danone sought alliances with big local players during the boom years, eventually gaining at least a fifth of Russia's dairy market.

Persons: Kadyrov, Danone Russia Kovalchuk, Carlsberg, Ramzan Kadyrov, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Yakub Zakriev, Akhmed Dudayev, of Russia Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov, Dudayev, Zakriev, Zulai, Akhmad Kadyrov, Kadyrov's, Danone, Yuri, Mikhail Kovalchuk, Bolloev, Guy Faulconbridge, Lidia Kelly, Shubhendu, Stephen Coates, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Danone Russia, Danone, Kremlin, Sunday, Chechen, Moscow State University, Cuban Missile, Soviet, Financial Times, Shubhendu Deshmukh, Thomson Locations: MOSCOW, Russia, Ukraine, Russian, Chechnya, Grozny, Paris, Red, Soviet Union, United States, China, Baltika, St Petersburg, Moscow, Melbourne, Bengaluru

☆ Beaten female Russian journalist moved to Moscow hospital
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Crew Against... Read moreMOSCOW, July 5 (Reuters) - A Russian investigative journalist and a lawyer who were beaten in the southern republic of Chechnya have been moved to a hospital in Moscow, one of the country's most prominent journalists said on Wednesday. Yelena Milashina, a well-known journalist for the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, was travelling to the Chechen capital Grozny from the local airport with Alexander Nemov, a lawyer, when they were attacked a day earlier. The two were beaten, and threatened with guns while Milashina had her head shaved and green dye thrown over her. Alexei Venediktov, the former head of the closed Ekho Moskvy radio station, said in a message on Telegram that the two were now in a Moscow hospital. Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge Editing by Andrew OsbornOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Yelena Milashina, Alexander Nemov, Read, Milashina, Alexei Venediktov, Guy Faulconbridge, Andrew Osborn Organizations: Novaya Gazeta, Thomson Locations: Grozny, Russia, MOSCOW, Russian, Chechnya, Moscow

☆ Prominent female Russian journalist and lawyer brutally attacked in Chechnya
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Yelena Milashina, a well-known journalist for the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, was travelling to the Chechen capital Grozny from the local airport with Alexander Nemov, a lawyer, when they were attacked. There was no immediate comment from Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of Putin who rules Chechnya, a mainly Muslim southern region. But Soltayev, the Chechen rights official, was cited by the RIA news agency as calling the attack "a provocation" against the Chechen authorities. DEATH THREATSSome Russian lawmakers and officials in Moscow condemned the attack and demanded an investigation. Kadyrov denies rights abuses, saying such allegations are fabricated by ill-wishers trying to discredit Chechnya and its authorities.

Persons: Yelena Milashina, Alexander Nemov, Milashina, Mansur Soltayev, Nemov, Vladimir Putin, Ramzan Kadyrov, Putin, Mokhmad, Kadyrov, Zarema, Musayeva, Dmitry Muratov, Muratov, Andrew Osborn, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: Novaya Gazeta, Kremlin, RIA, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson Locations: Russian, Chechnya, Grozny, Moscow, Russia, Soviet, Milashina, Chechen

CNN —Elena Milashina, a prominent Russian journalist who uncovered the horrific crackdown on gay men in Chechnya, was severely beaten alongside a lawyer in an attack in the southern Russian republic, according to her employer Novaya Gazeta. Russia’s human rights commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, “agreed to intervene in the situation on the request of the editorial office,” Novaya Gazeta said. Moskalkova also said she asked the Commissioner for Human Rights in Chechnya to ensure the safety of the journalist. Following her reporting on a crackdown on gay men in Chechnya in 2017, Muslim clerics in Chechnya called for “retribution” against her and other journalists. The country has a checkered record on gay rights, breaking up gay pride marches and passing anti-gay propaganda laws.

Persons: CNN — Elena Milashina, Alexander Nemov, Elena, Alexander, ” “ Elena Milashina, “, Nemov, Milashina, Musaeva, Ramzan Kadyrov, Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin, Tatyana Moskalkova, Moskalkova, ‘, Sergey Babinets, ”, Marie Struthers, Kadyrov Organizations: CNN, Novaya Gazeta, Milashina, Human, Novosti, Human Rights, Amnesty Locations: Russian, Chechnya, Grozny, Novaya, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Russia

☆ Prominent Russian Journalist Injured in Attack in Chechnya
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Victoria Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Russian investigative journalist known for her work on human rights was severely beaten and badly injured, along with a lawyer, on Tuesday morning in an attack in Chechnya, according to a statement from her newspaper. Elena Milashina, a journalist with Novaya Gazeta who uncovered the torture and killings of gay men in Chechnya, was in Grozny to cover the trial of Zarema Musayeva, the mother of exiled opposition activists, according to the newspaper. Ms. Milashina suffered brain injuries, her fingers were broken and she repeatedly lost consciousness, the statement said. Mr. Nemov was stabbed, according to the newspaper. A photo posted by the newspaper showed the journalist sitting on a hospital gurney with her hands bandaged up to her wrists and most of her hair shaved off.

Persons: Elena Milashina, Zarema Musayeva, Milashina, Alexander Nemov, Musayeva, Nemov, gurney, Gazeta Organizations: Novaya Gazeta Locations: Chechnya, Grozny, Novaya

☆ 'Stop yelling': Top Chechen fighter scolds Russia's Wagner chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Chingis KondarovMOSCOW, June 1 (Reuters) - One of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov's close allies on Thursday publicly criticised Russia's most prominent mercenary, casting Yevgeny Prigozhin as a blogger who yells all the time about problems, drawing a stern rebuke from a top Wagner fighter. "You have become a blogger who screams and shouts off to the whole world about all the problems," Delimkhanov said. "Where did such familiarity come from: who gave you the right to use the address 'ty' and 'Zhenya'?" Utkin said in a message which Prigozhin reposted on Telegram. Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Felix Light; Editing by Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Adam Delimkhanov, Ramzan Kadyrov's, Russia's, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner, Kadyrov, Prigozhin, Delimkhanov, Dmitry Utkin, Utkin, Akhmad Kadyrov, Vladimir Putin, Guy Faulconbridge, Felix Light, Daniel Wallis Organizations: Fighters, Russia's, Duma, Steel Works, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Mariupol, Chingis, MOSCOW, Grozny

☆ 'Stop yelling': Top Chechen fighter scolds Russia's Wagner mercenary chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

☆ UFC maintains links with Russian fighters and fighters connected to sanctioned Chechen warlord despite Ukraine invasion
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Ben Morse | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

We have been saying for some time that these sports organizations need to prohibit Kadyrov’s fighters to perform,” he said. There’s also its decision to allow Russian fighters in general to compete in the world’s premium mixed martial arts organization. Some critics have suggested Russian fighters in general should be suspended, like has happened in some other sports, for the country’s involvement in the invasion of Ukraine. Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC/Getty ImagesUFC’s primary focusThere are 20 active Russian fighters currently competing in their organized events, according to the UFC website. CNN approached all 20 of those Russian fighters, only two responded initially and ultimately none of them agreed to an interview.

☆ Russia's irregular commanders, like the Wagner boss, are trying to force a top general's hand and risking throwing operations into chaos, war experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Irregular commanders, like Prigozhin, appear to be calling more of the shots in Ukraine, war experts say. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the group's founder, and his fighters have routinely criticized Russia's top military officials over their handling of Russia's faltering war in Ukraine. In threatening to do so, the two "likely effectively blackmailed" Russia's military command into giving resources to Wagner, the ISW said in a Monday assessment. Graves of Russian Wagner mercenary group fighters are seen in a cemetery near the village of Bakinskaya in Krasnodar region, Russia, on January 22, 2023. Meanwhile, Prigozhin marked the occasion by feuding with Russia's military leadership, attacking their ability to defend the country.

☆ Moscow's promise of big payments to its troops is creating a new headache for the Russian military
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

But there are already reports of Russian troops not getting paid on time or at all. Anger over pay issues could worsen the already poor morale among Russian troops in Ukraine. Lev Vlasov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesOn the other hand, life in the Russian military is no picnic. Nonetheless, military pay looks generous compared to the civilian sector, where the average monthly wage is 63,000 rubles, or $770. However, cutting military pay – or failing to pay salaries and bonuses – would be a risky move.

☆ Putin's war in Ukraine looks more and more like a failure. Past Russian leaders haven't survived similar mistakes.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Joy Neumeyer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Instead, Russia's failing war effort has raised doubts about Putin's hold on power. For now, Putin looks secure, but past Russian leaders have suffered at home for blunders abroad. By the following summer, the Germans had taken huge swathes of Russian-controlled territory and a million Russian soldiers were dead. Captured Russian soldiers after the defeat at Tannenberg, in present-day Poland, on August 30, 1914. After an ineffectual troop surge, Gorbachev gave up on trying to improve the situation, and the last Soviet troops left Afghanistan in February 1989.

☆ Close Putin ally says 23 soldiers died in Ukrainian shelling attack
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Re-elected head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov attends an inauguration ceremony in Grozny, Russia October 5, 2021. REUTERS/Chingis Kondarov/Oct 27 (Reuters) - Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Thursday said 23 of his soldiers had been killed and another 58 wounded in a Ukrainian artillery attack this week. Kadyrov's comments were unusual, given that pro-Moscow forces have rarely admitted to major battlefield losses since the war started. "All rescue operations at the site have been completed and there is a final list of dead and injured - 23 soldiers were killed and 58 wounded," he said. After the attack, Chechen forces carried out a revenge attack and killed about 70 Ukrainians, he said.

☆ A bizarre video appears to show Putin ally Kadyrov being presented with 3 Ukrainian POWs by his teenage sons
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov posted a video of his teenage sons presenting him with Ukrainian POWs. Kadyrov previously revealed that his three sons, aged 14-16, had been on the frontline in Ukraine. Kadyrov, a staunch supporter of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, has called for the use of a "low-yield nuclear weapon." The video, which was posted on Kadyrov's Telegram channel, appears to show two of his sons, along with other Russian soldiers, bringing three Ukrainian prisoners of war to him in Grozny. Lawyers have noted that filming prisoners of war without their consent violates their rights under the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war.

☆ Riscurile de la „Proekt”. Poliția a descins acasă la redactorul-șef și jurnaliștii publicației „Proekt”, asta după ce cu o zi înainte redacția a anunțat că va publica o investigație despre bogățiile m
▼ + stars: | 2021-06-29 | by ( ) www.zdg.md time to read: +6 min

La 8:40, ora Moscovei, pe canalul telegram al publicației „Proekt” a apărut un mesaj despre perchezițiile din apartamentul lui Badanin. Percheziții se efectuează și în apartamentul părinților acestuia, unde jurnalistul a fost dus după ce a fost reținut. Cazul a fost inițiat în 2017 după lansarea anchetei Дождь despre omul de afaceri Ilya Traber, relatează postul de televiziune. Proprietarul său formal, fiul lui Zoya, Dmitry, a locuit și a lucrat la Rostov, într-o companie de transport și primea un salariu foarte mic. Pe numele ei a fost înregistrat un apartament pe Leninsky Prospekt în valoare de aproximativ 50 de milioane de ruble.

Persons: Maria, Badanin, Mihail Rubin, Rubin, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Kolokoltsev, Traber, Natalia Sindeeva, Roman, August, Putin, Ilya, Vladimir Putin, Nikolai Shamalov, Maria Zholobova, Vera Kolokoltseva, Ivanovna, Vera Ivanovna, Zoya, Valery Berdichevsky, Vera, Gherasim, Vladimir, Zoya Ivanovna, Alexandr, Viktor Zolotov, Zolotov, Дождь Organizations: Zholobova, Federației, Toyota, Porsche, Capital Group, Дождь Locations: Moscovei, Ceceniei, Badanin, Sankt - Petersburg, Federației Ruse, Rusiei, Julebino, Moscova, Regiunea Rostov, Rostov, Shhelkovskij, Grozny, gazeta.ru, Rusia

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